Shadows of Information
by Sabaku Ookami
Summary: No summary. (still working on making one)
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Aye, it's a new story... Also Naruto age in the flashback is 15 years old. So that should give you a decent idea on everyone's age. And here's a rule to keep in mind with this story... Don't assume anything.

Warnings: Konoha bashing, Dark/Grey manipulative Naruto, death, war, different language, and other stuff not in my mind at the moment.

Pairing: Harem (won't say who's in it as I have not picked anyone.)

Crossover with: Quite a few different things. Mostly I just add in different things that seem... enjoyable to use.

Beta's: ncpfan and Psudocode Samurai (Two of the best beta's, in my opinion)

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-Present-

Naruto sat back in his chair as he put away several reports and a couple scrolls away into a seal on his left arm where dozens of other seals were at. Each one storing various information that he collected from his various agents around the Elemental Nations. He chuckled as he remembered how he started up his information network and it all happened because of his parents and one decision that made.

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_Flashback_

_-One year earlier-_

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_Naruto sat in the corner of the room as he watched his parents, brother and sister celebrating their birthday. They were triplets, which was incredibly odd in the shinobi world. His two siblings had two halves of the Kyubi no Kitsune, they were the... golden children to everyone in the village, including his parents. Though they were more like a little bitch and a little bastard to him._

_His siblings did whatever they could to get him in trouble, even agreeing to whatever people in Konoha said that he did or even creating things just to get him in trouble. If anything, it was a contest between them to see who could get him in the worst trouble possible._

_After the first few years, he gave up on his family. All his parents did was ignore him unless it was to punish him, for things he never did or to yell at him. Hell, his mother didn't even set the table for five people, it was always four people... there wasn't even five chairs at the table anymore and his siblings obviously didn't want to get along with him. So it was pointless to complain about it any longer. He was only here for the _celebration_ because he'd have to listen to his mother bitch at him for 'not being there to support his siblings' or whatever garbage she decided to spew at him._

_Naruto raised an eyebrow as both his siblings unwrapped two large scrolls, _'The toad and... slug summoning scrolls?'_ thought Naruto wondering if his guess was right and his guess was proven correct as everyone in the room just exploded with happiness and gushed over his brother and sister._

"_Now I know those are special presents but your mother and I have decided on something," stated Minato despite the fact the two were still ecstatic over the two summoning scrolls. "Seka, your mother and I have drawn up a marriage contract between you and Sasuke. Fugaku has already agreed and signed it."_

_Naruto watched in mild amusement as his sister jumped up and shouted, "Yes!" _'Yeah, she'll make a good first bitch,'_ he thought rolling his eyes. He looked over at Fugaku, Mikoto and their son Sasuke. Mikoto looked to be the only one displeased, he figured that she was not privy to the arrangement or she didn't like the idea of her son marrying Seka. He didn't blame her if it was the latter._

"_Tetsuo, your mother and I after a lot of thought have decided to give you the title of clan heir."_

'Well... what do you know. I've actually received a present from them,'_ thought Naruto somewhat surprised. Since he was no longer clan heir and by clan traditions agreed upon by almost all the clans in Konoha which were if a clan heir was no longer recognized as such, he or she was banished from the clan, allowed to have no contact with anyone in the clan and obviously not allowed access to the clan's resources. To him... he was being freed. He could now literally go anywhere and at any time. _'I knew not asking to join the academy would prove useful'_ he thought silently thrilled at the idea of leaving Konoha._

_Almost everyone was celebrating the announcement but a few. Mikoto, Fugaku, Hiashi, Hinata and Hanabi were staring at him with surprised expressions. It wasn't strange, no clan heir had ever been replaced in Konoha. They seemed more shocked and in disbelief than him, he saw Hinata turn and glare daggers at his parents. _'Uh oh'_ he thought as the young Hyuga heiress did have one hell of a temper and they were all going to get a excellent demonstration as to why you do not want to piss off a one Hyuga Hinata... or at least they would if he wasn't in the room. He was not about to let this become a huge scene which would screw him over more in the end of matters._

_Naruto quickly walked over to her, grabbed her hand and literally dragged her out of the room, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" shouted the whited eyed girl angrily pulling her hand free after he dragged into a room and had closed the door, "Don't you realize what they just did? Those... fuckers just threw you out on the street!" Naruto stood there silently as she continued, "Out of my way so I give them a piece of my mind! I don't care if they're the Hokage and his wife, they just can't do that to their son!"_

"_It's fine, Hinata," said Naruto as soon as she stopped yelling, "Being their _heir_ isn't anything special to me and they've made it clear for years that I'm not part of their family. Your anger is wasted on them. At least now, I can leave the village and legally, they can't stop me."_

"_Y-you're fine with this?" questioned Hinata narrowing her eyes at him wondering if he truly was fine with being banished and kicked out of his home._

_Naruto shrugged as he raised an eyebrow out of curiosity and confusion, "Why do you care? Last time I checked, we weren't friends and you literally beat the crap out of my siblings on a weekly basis." he said as her speaking out for him was quite the surprise, though with few people in the room that were neutral or on _his_ side, it would have been surprising, no matter who it was._

"_I don't like it when people treat other people like _shit _for no reason," growled Hinata as she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "You've done nothing wrong and they're treating you like trash. I don't like it! Would you rather I didn't care?"_

"_Yes," replied Naruto honestly and simply before he felt something hit the door, "Oh hell," he muttered a few seconds before he and Hinata were sent sprawling on the floor as the door slammed open._

"_Ow... you didn't have to headbutt me, you jackass" muttered Hinata rubbing her forehead as she sat up with her ears ringing slightly and saw Naruto being beaten to a pulp by Minato._

"_Are you okay dear? He didn't do anything to you, did he?" said a voice and Hinata looked at its source to see Kushina talking to her. _'What the hell is wrong with this bitch?'_ thought Hinata wondering just what was wrong with the woman as her own son was literally getting the shit kicked out of him._

_Hinata stood up, activated her Byakugan and struck Minato in the back with Jyuken causing him to let go of Naruto and fall to his knees as he tried to reach the spot where she struck him and finding himself in pain every time he tried to move. "Hinata, what are you doing?!" shouted Kushina staring at the girl in shock. She couldn't understand why the girl attacked Minato, especially after they saved her from her delinquent son._

"_Shut up," snapped Hinata glaring at Kushina, "You have no reason to hit Naruto! He did _nothing_ wrong and you just allow your husband to beat your son half to death _after_ you banish him from your clan! You're a disgusting excuse for a human being!"_

"_We didn't banish Naruto, he's just no longer the heir," said Kushina seriously, "And we thought he was hurting you as we could all hear yelling from this room."_

_Hinata stared at older woman like she was an idiot and replied, "My father and sister don't seem worried and neither do the Uchiha's. You and your husband came in here because it gave you an excuse to beat and abuse Naruto. And yes, you did banish him, you stupid bimbo. Konoha's clan laws state that an heir who loses their status as the heir of a clan is banished from their clan, cannot associate with anyone _in_ their former clan and have no access to their former clan resources. To put it simply for someone stupid like you. You have disowned, thrown out and forbidden all contact with your own son!"_

"_...It was quite shocking," said Hiashi deciding to intervene before his daughter shouted down the entire house... or attacked Kushina which was probably going to happen sooner rather than later if he knew his daughter... and he did. If she struck down the Elders of the clan for using the caged bird seal and just took Minato down for at least several hours with a strike to his liver, there was very little his daughter was _not_ going to do, "I never thought you would agree to such a thing, Kushina. Since the day is pretty much over. I'll say this now instead of doing it tomorrow. Kushina, Minato. I don't want you or your children coming near my clan unless it is for a mission or an official meeting. If it does occur, the Hyuga clan will leave Konoha and join another hidden village."_

"_Why are you taking the trash's side?" asked Tetsuo looking at Hiashi, "All he does is get into trouble and destroy things!"_

_Hiashi sighed as Hanabi used a jyuken strike and hit the boy in the stomach, _'I really need to reign in my daughters,'_ he thought seeing as Hanabi was starting to take after her elder sister. "I am not _taking_ Naruto's side, young Namikaze. I am making the decision based on common sense. Hanabi... don't do what your sister does," he added giving his younger daughter a mild glare which caused her to hide behind him. "Now we'll be going," finished before turning around and heading out the door with Hanabi knowing that his eldest would be fine._

"_So will I," said Naruto standing up slowly as the last few punches from his father had split open his lip and probably gave him a few new bruises._

"_We'll be leaving as well," said Fugaku seriously as he was frowning at the scene that had unfolded in front of them. _'And I may consider rethinking this arrangement I made with them,' _he thought not sure if he wanted his son or his clan to be related to the Namikaze any longer. He'd be the first to admit that he disliked failures in his clan and wouldn't accept failure in his children... but he wouldn't throw them out on the street just because of it and he'd never call any of his clan or children trash. _'And I'm sleeping on the couch tonight if Mikoto's look earlier is anything to go off of,'_ he added mentally knowing he was in the dog house._

_Hinata gave them one more glare before leaving with Naruto, if only to make sure that his family didn't surprise and corner him to beat him further._

"_You realize that hitting Minato is basically treason," stated Naruto sorely as both of them headed upstairs, "Then Tsunade, Kushina and even Jiraiya should be charged as well. They've all hit him more times than I can count. I severely beat the Elders of my clan when I was seven, forced the caged bird seal to get removed and I am sure I can deal with whatever bullshit that the _esteemed _Hokage can make up... besides I'm going with you." The next second Naruto tripped on the ground and barely caught himself from ending up sliding down the stairs._

"_You're what?" questioned Naruto wondering why of all people she was butting into his life and now deciding to come _with_ him when he left the village, "You have a hitai-ite! You can't just leave without becoming a nukenin!"_

_Hinata smirked and replied, "You said it yourself, I _attacked_ the Hokage. I'm already considered a nukenin and I don't regret it." She was rather proud of herself if she wanted to admit it openly. While she didn't know much about the blond beyond what usually got around the village. She wasn't an idiot to simply believe all the shit about him especially when he didn't act like violent, he didn't steal... hell she only ever saw him usually sitting under a tree in the park near her clan's compound. _'Though I suppose snapping like I did wasn't the best idea... but oh well,'_ she thought shrugging as she really couldn't regret it. She knew what she was doing from the start after all._

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Flashback End

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Naruto still got all warm and fuzzy over that memory. Admittedly, he would have rather left Konoha silently, but he couldn't really complain once it happened. He never got that chance. He sighed as Hinata entered the room, removing the contact lenses from her eyes that hid her pale lavender eyes from the public then went off to the kitchen without a word to him.

The two of them had faked their deaths soon after leaving Konoha, since there was no chance in hell that his parents were letting him slip away with their clans' fortunes that he was able to still access since his father had yet to make his... banishment public knowledge or Hinata because of the Byakugan and it getting to other villages. With Hinata's eyes and his skill in never being noticed, it wasn't too hard to get away from any of the patrols or the shinobi investigating what happened when the two had their _accident_.

At the moment he was _recruiting_ his godfather's information network. To say the old pervert left information out in the open for anyone to see was an understatement. That stupid notebook the old fart used for_ research_ held more than some poorly written smut and lewd drawings. It held the names, towns and villages of the man's contacts. Naruto had to assume the old toad was getting memory problems in his old age if he had to write it all down.

There was nothing particularly _special_ about his former godfather's information network beyond how fast he took it over. So far, Jiraiya's little information network was proving a lot easier to take over than he originally thought it would. All of the people except two had started working for him, the _Shadow Broker._ He didn't recruit them in person and no one ever saw him for anything. It would be hard to be a dead person if people knew he was alive, after all.

His former godfather did not pay his contacts very well nor did anything to ensure their _loyalty_. He celebrated the small wonders of the world when he learned that. Fortunately, since he had the good sense to clean out the Namikaze and Uzumaki accounts before leaving Konoha, so he could afford to pay the informants to change loyalties. The fact he was banished from both clans wouldn't have been 'public' until the next day when his father had done the paperwork for it and most likely announced it to the entire village, so he was free to take as much as he wanted before then. Naruto had a long laugh after he faked his death as well with how much both of his parents would have been pissed when they found out about it.

To gain control of most of the information network, Naruto simply offered to pay them a few hundred ryo more and included a threat that he'd send someone to kill them if they ever betrayed him and he would hire a nukenin, mercenary or even a village shinobi to kill the person if they did betray him. He didn't like betrayals, especially since his _family_ had betrayed him from the start.

_'The best information network in the world...'_ thought Naruto not really impressed at the statement that was for Jiraiya's _former_ network of spies and informants. He saw dozens of ways to improve it, how to utilize it and make it something better than what it was.

While he was no expert or master at seals, he did put a seal in each of his contact's home that would transport papers, items or almost anything through to seal to where it's second set was located... which was on his right arm for the moment as he had yet to get around to having a base anywhere. Alot of the information he knew he could offer up to hidden villages or Daimyo and get them to pay a good amount of money for information that they wanted. How he was going to be able to do that was a different thing altogether. He only knew basic seals, so he couldn't set up an extremely intricate system of seals to do anything huge.

"Hey genius," said Hinata walking into the room with a carton of milk in her hand, "I know your _former_ parents had a lot of money, but eventually it's all going to dry up. Got any idea's on how to fix that?"

Naruto sweatdropped at her words and replied, "Twenty million ryo is going to take years for it to dry up unless you want to buy a small mountain, but you do have a point. Since you're mentioning this... I assume you have something you want to do."

"The most obvious being that we probably should invest in businesses and own things like that," stated Hinata seriously but she seemed happy about the idea nonetheless. It was strange seeing her _happy_ of all things. He almost always saw a pissed off and threatening Hinata more often than not. He didn't mind the new discovery, in fact he liked it a lot more than her far scarier side.

"You just want to own a restaurant along with other places, to get the best stuff," stated Naruto seeing through her, even if she made a good point. Thinking ahead and setting up businesses was not a bad idea, at least it'd give them some kind of income while he ironed out his floundering network and expanded on it.

"We live in a room at an Inn where there's a _tavern _underneath it_,"_ declared Hinata staring at him with no emotion on her face, "I've gotten felt up twice, I've been asked to go into the alley behind the Inn several times to and I quote, 'Get my hot, slutty pussy fucked by a big hard cock' and breaking their jaws does not stop them from doing either. Apparently being drunk does not help their memory. So yes, I'd like to set up businesses and get our own little place where I can _not_ be treated like a common street whore."

She was still wearing a fishnet mesh armor as a bra, her usual light blue jacket was open, and shorts that didn't even come close to reaching her knees. It didn't surprised him if he had to be honest. _'I'd tell her to wear more clothes but... I like living,'_ thought Naruto deciding not to open his mouth that would get him into an early grave, _'And... well I like the view and I doubt even more clothes would get the drunks to stop,'_ he added as he did like eye candy. "As you wish, we'll... figure it o-" he stopped talking as the dark haired girl hugged him without warning, _'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Don't move or she'll choke you to death.'_ he thought as any action he could possibly take had the possibility of him ending up dead.

Hinata backed away from him looking very happy and walked off back into the kitchen humming a tune, "...well she didn't Jyuken me, so we'll consider this a good thing," he muttered not sure how to determine the outcome of that particular conversation, but he wasn't dead or immense pain, so he could reason it out to be a good thing.

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Konoha

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"What do you mean that the Daimyo is cutting off our income and taking my clan's house?" questioned Minato looking at the messenger that arrived moments ago from Hi no Kuni's Daimyo.

The messenger sighed, he didn't get paid enough to listen to nobles whine, and he certainly wasn't paid enough to listen to a _kage_ whine. "In that order, Minato-san. The Daimyo is cutting funding to Konoha because it's an expenditure he doesn't need or want. Konoha can pay for itself if you have your shinobi do their duty, if they can't. That is your problem, not the Daimyo's or mine," stated the man calmly before taking a breath and continuing, "As to your clan house. You owe taxes on the estate, Minato-san. As Hokage, you know full well that all clan's must pay a tax to the Daimyo on their clan districts and houses no matter where they are located in Hi no Kuni. You are months overdue and the Daimyo is kicking you out until you pay. You will have a grace period of two weeks so you may find another place for your family and yourself to live or pay the taxes that are due. When the two weeks are up, a contingent of samurai will arrive at your house to escort you and your family out of it if you have not paid. Good day, Minato-san." The messenger turned around and left the office, his two guards followed behind him.

"First the Hyuga clan is becoming more and more hostile and now _this_... that little son of a bitch had to steal our money _then_ go off and kill himself _with_ the money," growled Minato angrily before he punched his desk, furious.

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Kushina frowned as she stared at her... deceased son's former bedroom as Minato had immediately converted it into an office so he could do his work at home and not stay at the Hokage Tower late at night. It wasn't much of a change, if she had to be honest. All that was in the room before Minato took it over was a worn cot, a desk and nothing else. While her other children's room were far more filled with things. _'Was it really that bad?'_ she thought as she furrowed her brow.

Since the triplet's birthday, she was effectively friend-less. Mikoto wanted nothing to do with her, the dark haired Matriarch had gone as far as slapping her in public a couple days after her son had died and no one in the any of the clan's would so much as look at her... and she understood why.

When Minato and her had removed Naruto as the heir, they committed an act that was never done in Konoha and for... absolutely no reason. Kushina had looked up the law after Hinata had shouted it at her and seen that while all the clan's agreed on it. It had never been used. In fact, she literally had to clean the dust off the entire book regarding Konoha's laws on dealing with the clans. She couldn't revoke it either as her son was now dead, and it was explicitly stated that revoking it was not possible since Naruto, if he was alive was not allowed to associate or contact anyone in the clan, his family, under punishment of execution. The second he'd get within the same room to revoke it would be like sending him to the chopping block.

The worst part... her husband knew of the law and decided to go with removing Naruto as their heir anyways. To say she was pissed when she learned of it was a gross understatement. She understood that since Naruto wasn't a shinobi, putting Tetsuo as their heir made more sense, but she did _not_ agree with banishing him from their family.

And as a result of her _finding_ that out, she had confronted Minato, kicked him out of the house after she sent him to the hospital and threatened to divorce him if he hid anything from her _ever_ again. She would have already divorced him if it wasn't for their children, she didn't want to put them through that.

Kushina sighed and walked downstairs. It wasn't like she could do anything to fix it anyways. The only thing she could do was regret it and mourn for her son.

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Inn – A few days later

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Naruto sat on the windowsill looking below on the street as Hinata was destroying every man that came close to her, they didn't have to look at her and they were still on the ground and in pain. "She's gone from reactive to proactive," he said as he watched one man fly and land in a trough used for uses when they tied up by those who stayed at the Inn then it broke under his weight and he hit the ground. "Well, he could have landed in the shit piles," he added though if he was honest, he'd have rather had the man end up in one of the many piles of horse poop. "But this will attract attention... again and that's something I don't want. So I guess I'll start searching far more quickly for a place. The fines and hospital bills she keeps getting from the magistrate are annoying. You would be surprised how many people a teenage girl could send to the hospital in one night..."

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Two days later

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Naruto stood looking at a large empty plot of land, _his_ land. He used one of the informants he had in the Daimyo's court to get together a deed of the land. It cost him two million ryo for enough land that in short, could construct a castle as well as a large city... not that he wanted a large city. A castle, maybe.

"What's this?" questioned Hinata looking from the land to him with her dark blue eyes staring at him, she had her contact lenses in, it was odd seeing her eyes looking normal.

_'I just can't enjoy a good moment with her around,'_ he thought before sighing, "It's land that I own. Courtesy of an informant who played the middle-man. I currently own enough land around here to, in theory, build a castle and then some."

"So we're living in a tree until you magically conjure up a house or something?" asked Hinata as Naruto sweatdropped at the question then rolled his eyes.

He shrugged and answered, "You sound like you've never had survival training which is odd considering _you're_ the kunoichi and I'm the simple civilian who lives at your mercy."

Hinata laughed at little at his response and said, "Stop that, it's funny but it'll lose its touch if you use it all the time, you poor little civilian." Now it was Naruto's turn to laugh, "At least animals are more polite than those drunks, so it's an improvement."

"Great," replied Naruto happily only to nervously laugh the next minute, "I have something for you to do though, Hinata." There was multiple ways this was going to end, and all of them except one involved him on the ground and in pain.

Hinata raised an eyebrow and stared at him wondering what he wanted her to do. She didn't mind little tasks he usually gave her to do. They weren't demeaning or boring, they were quite interesting. She even started to enjoy them... but she'd never admit that.

Naruto took her attention on him as the go ahead to continue, so he did as he handed her several pieces of paper, "I just need you to go there and... _recruit_ her, gently. Try to be like you are around me. The information says she utterly despises humanity and I'd prefer if neither of us are in that group, if at all possible and since you're out and about. I'd like you to try and get a bingo book. A book with all the nukenin and important shinobi. It's an awesome and adorable package."

"That's creepy, you know that," said Hinata on how he referred to a book, even if it was a book filled with information on important shinobi as well as nukenin, "I'm surprised you knew of bingo books since their used by shinobi only."

Naruto shrugged, "What can I say... The _Hokage_ left a lot of crap around the house. Looking through most of it became second-nature, he's quite a messy person. How else do you think we could have gotten through the patrols around Konoha." If his mother was never around then Minato would have died under the mess he constantly made with everyone in the house going with him.

"My eyes," stated Hinata staring at him accusingly, "So what are you going to do? Commune with nature?" she asked curiously with an amusing mental image of him doing so in her mind. The very thought made her giggle.

Naruto grimaced at her giggle. While he liked it when she smiled and even laughed... her giggles gave him the creeps and she only giggled when she was imagining something in her head. "No... I'm going to find people to build our home. I may as well make it my base as well, so... well it should be fun to see when it's built completely."

"I get a say in how it's built too, right?" questioned Hinata wondering if he was going to include her or not.

"What do you think you've been helping me put together the last few months? A weird drawing?" he said stopping himself from laughing at her surprised look. "It wasn't like we were staying at that Inn forever. Things take time Hinata and that includes my informant doing all the paperwork so this land is mine."

"_Ours,"_ growled Hinata glaring daggers at him. She wasn't about to be cut out from things, especially something as big as this.

"No, _mine,_" stated Naruto seriously as returned her glare, "It's _ours_ if we marry and until that time. The land and whatever is built on it is owned by Uzuha Naruto. Me. Unless I create a deed that states otherwise," he added before sticking out his tongue at her only to realize his mistake when she hit his chin causing him to bite his tongue, "Youu bithhh," said Naruto glaring at her.

Hinata laughed at his screwed up speech and replied, "Sorry, Naruto dear, I can't understand a word you're saying. I'm going to go now. Maybe when I get back you can speak properly to a lady like myself."

_'No lady uppercuts a guy and causes him to bite his tongue, you demented princess!'_ shouted Naruto mentally since he wasn't going to be saying anything any time soon. _'Gahh... why I put up with her is anyone's guess.'_ He sweatdropped at his thoughts since he just asked a question he already knew the answer to, _'Who the hell am I kidding, the reason I put up with her is because she's so hot... and I really shouldn't give her opportunities to hit me,'_ he added mentally since the only times she ever did hit him was when he was being stupid or simply screwing with her, but she never hit very hard... until now when he bit his tongue, _'I guess I'll hit at the informants for people who are good at construction... cause I've got no clue where to even start,'_ he said mentally before heading to a try and contact his informants via the seals on his arm... He really needed a place to put the seals as he was starting to get a little bothered by the seals on his arm. They were neat at first, but they've long overstayed their welcome and it was starting to become confusing as to which seal went to which informant since he was not about to start writing names of any kind on his arm, even if it would help.

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A/N: And... end. Of chapter 1. Yeah, like I'd do another one-shot. I already regret not continuing the one-shot I made. So I'll never make that mistake again.

Also Hinata is more like her RTN version, though with a few differences. One of which includes 'not' having a crush on Naruto.

So before the inevitable "Why are you making ANOTHER story/fanfic? Finish your others!" question/statement. I'll be proactive and cut you off beforehand. I am 'making' another story, because I have tons of idea's in my head and if I cannot put them in stories that I have up already... I create another story. That's how it works for me.

Don't worry, I still work on all my other fanfics. Though unbreakable sage may take some extra time in an update as redoing chapter 7 is priority before doing chapter 8. So see you all later... or if you review since I answer most of them.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Well... here we are. It was nice to see people who understand my point of view. Now 'why' am I updating when I went on hiatus/vacation. Body and brain don't agree with each other and when I get bored... I write, so what the hell.

But there's a teensy tiny change... I disabled FF sending me an e-mail when someone reviews. So... review all you like. Troll, flame. Run around naked while scratching your ass with a cat. I won't be reading them... at all. Signed in or not. So in a way, I get to have my vacation and... you guys get a chapter whenever I pop it out.

Oh yeah... there probably won't be a summary for this story. I can't think of anything that would be good. So, yeah. Don't expect that little area to change any time soon.

Helper(s): Psudocode Samurai and ncpfan

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Fu stared at the cage the village had managed to get her into, she'd been trapped in it for two days so far, and not surprisingly she didn't receive food or even anything to drink. _'I hate them. I hate them. I hate them... I wish they'd all die!'_ she shouted angrily in her mind as talking would cause her throat to hurt with it being so dry even if she did manage to drink some of the water that dripped down occasionally into her cage from the treetop above, and she did not want to draw attention from... the jounin lying unconscious on the floor with blood flowing out of his mouth. _'That's new,'_ she thought as she didn't even notice that the jounin had been attacked and killed, hell she didn't even _hear_ it. Apparently the lack of food and water was starting to effect her senses severely.

"My dear little Fu," stated a feminine voice and Fu looked directly at the direction it was coming from in a split second and saw a scantly-dressed teenage girl with pale white eyes looking at her with her arms folded under her breasts looking at her, "What a sad hand that you've been dealt. The leader of Takigakure is dead and everyone thinks you're the killer," continued the girl calmly before she started walking around the cage on a calm pace, as if she didn't just infiltrate a hidden village and kill the jounin guarding her. "But _we_ know what really happened, don't we?"

Fu froze and she immediately felt a pair of arm wrapped around her from behind and hold her gently, "You don't want to end your life to the sound of _idiots_ cheering as your head is separated from your body, do you?" the pale eyed girl asked sweetly into Fu's ear, "How about we see if we can do _better_," she continued in what Fu could consider a seductive tone that made her blush even if she was wary of this... newcomer. "And to make things interesting," she added before pausing and Fu heard dozens of explosions go off in several buildings around them and throughout the village since she was caged in the village square. Fu blinked as she heard the sound of something small falling on dirt and saw the key to the cage laying between her legs and the arms that were embracing a few seconds ago retreating.

Fu looked behind her and saw the teenage girl simply standing there with one of her eyes closed with the other eye watching her to see what she would do. She didn't even looked bothered by the fact that all of Takigakure's shinobi forces would be awake now and searching for an intruder, namely _her_.

"W-why?" asked Fu hoarsely as she picked up the key and slowly stood up. She could barely talk as it was, but she wanted to know why someone would help her. No one in this _human_-infested village would ever consider helping her, outsiders didn't know how to get in the village and Taki never allowed outsiders in, even in the most dire situations.

"Because I was asked to," answered the girl simply, "Well... I was asked to see if you'd like to leave this place and join us. Everything else was more or less for shits and giggles... and the fact I didn't like what I read in the information I was given. Now make your choice. Me or them," she added as her open eye stared straight at Fu.

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Naruto scowled as he stared at the camp some distance away, it was a bandit camp or... at least they fancied themselves as bandits. They were nothing more than highwaymen and kidnappers in all honestly. He doubted they ever actually raided a town to be considered bandits. Unfortunately though... they kidnapped an esteemed architect from Tetsu no Kuni that was traveling throughout the Elemental Nations to learn more about his craft by studying the buildings of other cultures and countries.

He had _recruited_ a prisoner to be the middle-man in talking to the men in the camp and he even went to the trouble of hiring six mercenaries in case the negotiation went wrong. Now normally, no one would willingly walk into the camp of bandits or highwaymen and kidnappers. However, it wasn't like the man he sent had much of a choice. He was already sentenced to death in one of the nearby towns, but he paid and persuaded the authorities to put the man into his custody, assuring them that he wouldn't live the next few days later and the man could serve a decent purpose. Naruto didn't like the thought of stabbing the man in the back, but the man was a murderer so he wouldn't lose any sleep over the man's death or the fact he was stabbing him in the back after telling he'd go free after doing the negotiation. _'I think that makes me an ass,'_ thought Naruto as he continued to listen in on the conversation between the men in the camp and his middle-man.

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"You want us to hand over the old man we have locked up for a few grand?" questioned the leader of the ragtag bunch of robbers and kidnappers. "Why should we? He told us he's from Tetsu and we figure that they can pay a lot more."

"_I'm surprised,"_ stated a modulated voice out of nowhere erupted from the mic set on Asai's neck which connected him to the Shadow Broker person who had gotten him from being executed a few days ago. _"Apparently, you aren't as stupid as you look," _adding the voice coldly, _"Listen carefully, scum. The man in front of you is just a simple murderer I hired to talk to you in my place. I shall let you know, that I obtained a critical piece of information just now."_ There was a slight pause before the voice continued, _"Although it looks like he's here alone, he's actually not and now... you all die,"_ he finished and a second later everyone in the camp was hit with arrows as a few men in leather armor rushed into the camp to finish off what the arrows started, including killing their _negotiator_.

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Naruto watched silently as the mercenaries cleaned up the mess and killed anyone who was still breathing in the camp and wasn't a prisoner. "If you're finished, you can leave. I left the second part of your payment as the spot I picked, along with a bonus. Don't become too busy, I may hire you again. Shadow Broker, out," stated Naruto as he talked to the mercenaries, he didn't have the communication go two ways, it was one way and the mercenaries were fine with that as well.

Naruto waited patiently as the mercenaries did one last check of the camp to ensure everyone was dead and then left as their job was complete. He waited a few more minutes then he walked into the camp and up to the prison cage where the architect was still imprisoned in, along with a few other people.

"I take you're the boss of those guys. Mind letting me out?" questioned the old man looking at Naruto calmly.

"On one condition," said Naruto with his voice altered by a seal on his throat. It was quite an ingenius thing. He simply implemented the same understanding of the voice changing devices that could be attached to radio's and communication equipment.

The old man scoffed, "It's be quite mean of you to leave an old man to rot here just because I said no... but fine, what's your condition?" he asked, though not really happy about the mysterious man's words.

Naruto chuckled and stated, "Don't insult me. We both know you can get out of that thing. You're an architect, you've probably found several things with a cage built by amateur highwaymen and kidnappers." The man laughed some as he nodded, "Now as for my condition... I want to hire you to build something for me. Why else do you think mercenaries would come out to middle of nowhere? The goodness of their hearts?"

"Probably not, but it's possible. Some people like helping others, you know," said the old man as he stood up, "And I suppose I can help you build what you want built, but what about these people?" He gestured with his hand at the small group of people in the cage with him.

"They can do as they want," replied Naruto shrugging at the thought of them. He didn't care what they did, he wasn't there to save them, after all. He opened the cage door, "So... find your stuff and let's get going," he added as he headed out to the main part of the camp.

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With Hinata – Three days later

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"Enjoying yourself?" asked Hinata looking at Fu who was eating at a food stall in the town they were in, it was the last town to the land Naruto owned, so it made for a good stop to unwind and get supplies. Her stack of bowls was starting to rival Naruto's and she wondered if there was a kitchen in the world that could keep both of them satisfied... well there would have to be since they'd be living in the same house. The mint green haired girl nodded, but didn't speak as she still had food in her mouth. "Kami, I'm the only one with a normal appetite," she muttered before she decided to go and buy a few things, "I'll be going through stores around here if you want to find me after you're done... eating the entire stall of its stock. Don't worry about paying, we ended up buying this place when we came to it the first time, so it's not that big of an issue," she added to Fu who just nodded as she continued eating causing Hinata to sweatdrop, _'...Well at least she doesn't talk when she eats, she already has Naruto beat at table manners,'_ she thought as she had to slap the blond a few times until he learned not to talk while eating.

She left the stand and walking into a nearby shop that sold a mixture of shinobi items and weapons along with non-shinobi stuff. She needed to resupply after using all the explosive tags to give Taki one hell of a mess to pick up. Not to say they didn't deserve it. They charged Fu on treason and murder with no evidence beyond the fact she was the only person at their Kage's corpse, then there were the long list of things that the people of Taki did to her. They forced her to live outside the village, didn't allow her to shop for anything, so Fu was forced to live off her survival skills. If she entered the village, they'd throw trash, rocks and other objects at her. Even going so far as to gang up on the girl and beat her for 'invading' their village with her presence.

_'I'm surprised Naruto could get that much information... maybe someone was regretful on how they treated Fu... can't think of any other way the information, with how detailed it was could get to him,'_ she thought as she looking at weapons that could go on her hands. Like other Hyuga, she wasn't very big on weaponry but she didn't consider them taboo like her relatives, she knew that eventually that Jyuken wouldn't work on someone and she wanted a backup just in case. She did not want to die with a stupid ass look on her face because of it. That was one of the reason she had gotten a weapon in Konoha, but no time to get it considering that the Hokage would have had Anbu on her and Naruto's ass within hours if they stayed to _prepare_ to leave. Hinata sighed as nothing in view seemed to be up to the standard that her old Katar's. Though she wasn't too surprised, she had them imported from far away, so there were little chances of her seeing anything similar to them in the Elemental Nations. "Oh well," she said as she moved on to other weaponry and she thought of something then rolled her eyes, "I probably should," she added before she looked at the different swords in the store and picked the least fancy looking one. _'Naruto should have something as well. I won't be around all the time to protect his cute little ass, after all.'_ she thought chuckling a bit then went to the counter setting down the katana and the several stacks of explosive tags on it.

"4870 Ryo," stated the clerk calmly and Hinata paid the man, put the tags in her weapons pouch and strapped the katana to her back. She frowned as she started to leave, the sword's strap was between her breasts and being a nuisance, but... she could tolerate it for awhile. If not, she'd make Fu carry the katana and then let her hit the blond over the head with it.

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With Naruto

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"Why did you two ditch the other mercs and follow me?" questioned Naruto staring at two mercenaries who had probably gotten their pay that he paid the whole group then went and hunted him down. Considering both were identical twins, female and rivaled Hinata in terms of looks. He wasn't sure if he was to be concerned or extremely fucking lucky. Granted, they could have followed him and the old man simply to extort more money from the blond so until he knew their _true_ motives, he was going to stick with being concerned. "And to add onto those two questions... what made you think you wouldn't be killed," he added wondering just how these two women thought. He wasn't in a position to threaten them, not when Hinata wasn't around, but they didn't know that.

"We don't play well with others, Shadow Broker," stated the sister on the right while the one on the left nodded. "Besides, you hired us separately. Why did we follow you? Curiosity. It's not often that a mysterious client hires mercenaries to take out highwaymen and kidnappers. People usually get shinobi to do that. Besides, we wanted to see if there's an ugly guy under that hood or a sexy one."

"It could be a girl," stated her sister calmly, "It's not like we heard his or her voice without it being modified, it still is too, Anzu," she added as she shook her head, "But it's as she said, we got curious about you, so here we are."

"And my last question," said Naruto wondering if they were just that naïve or just incredibly good actors, because if they were the latter then he'd had to give them a medal before letting Hinata have at them.

The two giggled and Anzu answered, "You hired us for fighting, chances are... you either aren't strong enough to take out something like that camp earlier or you simply don't fight at all. You also don't have bodyguards since you hired mercenaries instead of sending them... so it was an easy decision and a reasonable risk to take, for us."

"Do you always have woman troubles?" questioned the old man watching on the sideline taking the entire thing as entertainment. He wasn't worried about the two women, in all his years, he could tell when someone was lying and they weren't. He didn't blame the two sisters for being curious about this man, the Shadow Broker. The man peaked his own interest as well.

"Unfortunately," stated Naruto annoyed at the situation, "Fine, follow all you want, but consider yourselves on the payroll so you do what I say."

"Within reason," added Anzu staring at him, Naruto just nodded. Not exactly the way he wanted to start recruiting his own mercenaries for whatever job he needed to have done, but it could have been worse... it could always be worse.

After a few more hours of walking, the four of them were at his vast... empty land, "This is it and I have basic plans for how I would like it. You're welcome to make any changes you deem fit... what is your name or is calling old man going to be fine?" questioned Naruto not having learned the old architect's name.

"Certainly is a lot of land," said the old man looking around before nodding, "I can work with it. Though you have the problem of no workers and no resources. Do you expect me to crap out what you want built?" questioned the old man looking at him seriously, "My name is Orima," he added a second later.

"If I thought you could without receiving splinters, yes," replied Naruto truthfully and chuckled a little, "Workers and the resources will come later. I figure you'd want to go over the blueprint I have as well as make addition changes to it. In that time, I'd get everything you need."

"Point taken," muttered Orima shrugging, "Alright, hand over the blueprint and I'll get start... also, where are we sleeping?" he asked not seeing... well anything as far his eyes could see.

Naruto gestured to the ground, "I usually sleep in a tree, so out in the wild. Why? Do you want a tent too?"

"It would help," stated Anzu as her sister and Orima nodded.

_'Babies,'_ thought Naruto annoyed, he sighed and just shrugged. "So I know the old man's name, your name... what's yours?" he asked looking at the other twin of whom he didn't know her name.

"Kurumi... how can you tell us apart?" she asked as everyone they met always mixed them up and only on occasions, got lucky with who was who.

"Braids," answered Naruto gesturing to his own head since each sister had some of their red hair braided that was the opposite of the other sister. That was the easiest way for him to tell, though he could tell just by looking at them, "And your faces," he added before he started to leave, "I'm going. I'll have the guy who owns the land drop off the things you all need."

"Don't you own this land?" questioned the twins in unison, looking confused as they thought on it.

"Yes and no," he stated before disappearing into the trees. He had to go the nearby town and gather crap before returning and it would like incredibly suspicious if he popped up right after the Shadow Broker disappeared.

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Hours later in Town

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Naruto stared at an annoyed Hinata and mint green haired girl who was eating and had a several small towers of bowls around her, "Should I ask?" he questioned as even _he_ couldn't that much and he was usually the only person he knew that could give a food stand a run for their money. His former mother and siblings could probably as well, but they never ate outside the house.

"No, but you could help me pry her from the stand," stated Hinata before removing a katana from her back and handing it to him, "Here. This is yours. You'll need to defend yourself somehow and you can start with this... and if you're a good boy, I'll help you with your chakra control."

"No jutsu?" he questioned, mostly to get a foul look from her as he knew that Hyuga, even Hinata didn't learn many jutsu outside of the Jyuken.

Hinata glared at him and replied, "I don't know any jutsu beyond the academy basic jutsu and you know it." She looked at Fu, "Fu, this is the guy who sent me to get you... Stop eating for a moment. It isn't going anywhere." her words fell on deaf ears as the girl continued to eat without even looking like she heard Hinata.

Naruto shook his head and grabbed the bowl of food from the girl, "Ow!" he shouted and glared daggers at Fu who had his hand in her mouth and her teeth digging into his skin.

"Yeah, I tried that too," said Hinata trying not to laugh at the blond's situation. It wasn't funny when she did it, but she could enjoy it when it happened to someone else.

"Let go or no more food from this stand," threatened Naruto as he continued to glare at her, she stopped applying pressure on his hand and stared at him... with his hand still in her mouth and still biting him, just not as hard, "Let go," he continued and she stopped biting his hand, "Ow... it left a mark," he muttered as he could clearly see the teeth marks on his hand. He looked back at Fu who had returned to eating and sweatdropped, "How long have you two been here?" he asked suspiciously.

"About six hours," answered Hinata sighing and even the two chef's in the stand were drenched in sweat from working for that long with no break considering how fast and how much the girl ate. "It's her last bowl since the stand is out of stock now. I'm more concerned about where she puts it all. Why are you here? Couldn't find the guy you wanted?" she asked as she figured he'd be back at the empty plot of land.

"Getting workers, supplies... and tents," answered Naruto calmly, he emphasized _tents_ purely out of disdain for the things. Trees were perfectly fine to sleep in... as long as you didn't lean too much on one side. "And we've got two additional friends to join the sexy women group we have going," he added admittedly a bit proud of the fact even if he was still wary of Anzu and Kurumi.

"I'm not leaving you alone again," said Hinata seriously as she stared directly in his eyes, "Otherwise you'll have gaggle of women around you like a harem."

_'Says the one who went and got a cute girl,' _thought Naruto seeing her contradict herself, she'd realize it within a few minutes, "Well have fun, I'm going to go and get the things I need to get," he replied before heading off into the town.

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A/N: End... of the chapter. If you didn't read the first author's note, go do so. Sabaku Ookami, out.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: For this chapter alone. I am turning on review emails considering I'm going to ask a question and I'd rather not waste time in looking at the reviews, the long and annoying way. So when the next chapter after this one is up. Review e-mails go off again... maybe. Depends if people aren't stupid.

Now the question: Right, so we have a harem and no one in it yet. Kind of a problem since Naruto can't impregnate air.

I won't say anyone can _not_ be in it, because they'll still be suggested much to my own dismay. So, how this works is quite simple. You suggest the person you want in the harem. It can absolutely be anyone _Female_. You can even suggest multiple women. Filler/rare Naruto girls are encouraged. (Age is not an issue but no one over... 40 for obvious reasons) and I will take them into consideration. (If I can actually type their character in a believable way) Oh right... genderbending characters works too, just... don't go overboard on it.

That's out of the way and now to answer what's in your head at the moment. Why am I asking for suggestions. ...I'm bored and I wanted to ask. Besides, I don't keep up with the manga or anime so I have no idea if a new girl people like popped up or not... so yeah. Though admittedly, I am considering having Jibril from No game no life in the harem/story and if you watch the anime, you know why. Hehehe.

Now... Naruto is not going to remain 'weak'. Naruto has a little teensy, tiny thing hidden. That I am not going to reveal for awhile in the story. Hehe. If you want a spoiler. PM me. Now read the chapter.

Helper(s): Psudocode Samurai and ncpfan

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"Oh you're so adorable," chimed Anzu as both her and Kurumi were rubbing his cheeks and babying him. He was stuck between enjoying it and being utterly horrified at being babied by the two young women while Hinata was standing off to the side with Fu trying not to show herself laughing and failing horribly at it.

"Look at the whisker marks," said Kurumi as she gently rubbed them and both sisters stopped when they heard Naruto purr, "D-did he just?" she asked staring at the blond in shock who was covering his mouth in just as much surprise.

Anzu nodded and replied, "He did. He just purred." There was a pause between the two for a moment and within the span of a few seconds Naruto was in the middle of two pairs of breasts by two excited young women. _'I hate my life,'_ thought scowling at the breasts smothering him, _'And why the hell do I purr? I'm not a cat goddammit! These marks are from the Kyubi when it was sealed in Kushina. Does that mean foxes purr or do something like it?'_ he thought wondering if such a thing did happen to a fox but he wasn't going to go out and try it any time soon. He'd die of embarrassment any time now anyways.

"Ladies, stop teasing the young man," said Orima before he continued taking inventory of the supplies that the blond brought to them as well as bossing around the workers to get the foundation of the building started.

Naruto got free from the twins and quickly ran behind Hinata as the twins just laughed at him then walked back to the set of tents seeing as their source of entertainment ran off. "So you're the one who sent Hinata-san to... get me?" questioned Fu looking at him suspiciously.

"And you're the one that bit me," said Naruto scowling at her as he _still_ remembered that from a couple days ago and he wasn't going to just forget about it any time soon, "Yes, I am the one that had Hinata go and see if you'd want to join us. Name's Naruto. Speaking of which, did you get the bingo book?" he asked looking at the lavender eyed girl seriously.

"I did and I'll give it to you... if you let me rub your whisker marks," answered Hinata smirking at Naruto glared daggers at her for suggesting such a thing, especially after what he was just subjected to not even five minutes ago.

Naruto stared at her then looked at the small book in her hand then continued to look between it and her face a few times then sighed, "Fine," he said as he probably wasn't going to get the book otherwise and since she was a shinobi, he wasn't going to be able to take it from her. He had might as well simply let her have her way... no matter how embarrassing it was. He stood there silently as Hinata gently brushed her fingers against his cheek and elicited a purr out of him until he covered his mouth with one hand and held out his other hand for the book.

"Thank you," stated Hinata as she looked like a cat who just found a mouse to play with as she handed him the bingo book she had gotten, "Now I'm going to rest... try not to cause trouble that involves me kicking your ass in the end," she added before heading off to her own tent that Naruto had gotten her and enjoying far more than a tree.

"Why did you want me to join you?" asked Fu once the... weirdness was gone from the situation. She'd admit it was different from being yelled at, hit or having things thrown at her, but she wasn't going to simply to believe that something like this wasn't too good to be true.

"Several reasons," answered Naruto calmly as he opened the bingo book and started reading it, "You are the Jinchuuriki of the Nanabi, that's not the reason I asked you to join, just stating the fact to get it out of the way. I could careless what lives in your gut in the end of things. An Organization I have limited information on is collecting jinchuuriki like you. I'd prefer they didn't collect you at all to be honest," he explained as he spotted his former parents in the book and gave a chuckle before continuing, "Consider me asking you to join us as an act of goodwill, Fu-chan."

"And if I don't want to join you?" questioned Fu wondering just what the blond and even the others would do if she refused. Though she didn't really expect a truthful answer out of the blond since

Naruto hummed for a moment then closed the bingo book and looked Fu straight in her eyes, "Hinata or the twins kill you," he stated truthfully, not even blinking as he stared in her eyes, "Only Hinata and you know I am the Shadow Broker. The twins and Orima think I'm simply another subordinate of his. I can't exactly let you walk away with the knowledge of who I am. I'm not skilled enough in seals to erase your memory of who I am either, so your death is the only option."

"And you think any of them can kill me?" growled Fu narrowing her eyes at the blond dangerously, she didn't like threats... though she did appreciate his honesty in the matter. She had expected him to lie and tell her that he'd just let her go then kill her in the end.

"The twins? Not particularly, not unless you're slower than an arrow which since you have been trained as a kunoichi shouldn't be an issue," answered Naruto thinking over the scenario in his head, "Hinata on the other hand... I don't think she'd kill you, but she might beat you until you reconsider trying to leave. She seems to have taken a liking to you... and it's rare that she likes anyone," he added as he didn't know of anyone Hinata liked being around aside from himself and maybe even her own clan, but he wasn't sure on the latter. Naruto's eyes narrowed and Fu unconsciously took a step back from him, he smirked and stuck his tongue out at her then said, "Take your time, think about it. It's not like I'm going to hang you upside-down from a tree branch until you give me answer. If you have any questions or if you want to talk or anything. Feel free to bother Hinata or myself."

"H-hai," replied Fu nodding before the blond walked past her and headed toward the tents. _'Well... it's the first time someone _hasn't_ outright lied to my face while wearing a smile,'_ she thought as she had expected to be pacified with a lie, like the kage in Taki always did to her and promptly escorted out of the village. She didn't _trust_ the blond, or even Hinata, but they were treating her differently than anyone else had ever done. They didn't baby her, didn't lie to her as far as she knew and obviously didn't do the shit the villagers in Taki did to her.

"_**It's not a bad idea to join them,"**_ stated Chomei speaking up now that she could after having listened in on the conversation, **_"They aren't the villagers in Taki... and I don't think the blond was lying."_**

_'What makes you say that, Chomei?'_ questioned Fu mentally wondering why the biju was siding with Naruto. The Nanabi usually hated other humans, just like her. For Chomei to side with the blond was... surprising more than anything.

"_**Well he did say he'd kill you if you refused. Normally, people don't do that if they want people to join them. The fact he didn't cover it up and lie by saying that you could simply leave if you refused and stabbed you in the back means, at least to me, that he is trying to show you that he isn't like that stupid Kage or the villagers in Taki,"**_ explained Chomei calmly to her container as best as she could, **_"He'll tell you the truth to your face, whether you like it or not... and I don't want anything to happen to you. If there is an organization that is gathering jinchuuriki to kill them for the biju, then I want you to be in the safest spot possible and considering how that girl got into Taki and the damage she did. I'd say near Naruto-san is a pretty safe place. I just don't want you hurt because of me... but whatever you decide to do, I'm with you Fu."_**

_'Literally,'_ stated Fu before she started laughing a little while Chomei just sighed, _'I'll think about it,'_ she added before shrugging, "I wonder if there's anything fun to do around here..." she muttered before heading toward the tents to see if she could anything to keep herself from being bored.

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A Week Later - Konoha

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Minato yelled as he threw all the paperwork on his desk onto the floor of his office, "Mission failures all around! No new clients and even the regular clients are disappearing because of these constant failures," he shouted angrily as Konoha shinobi had been failing missions repeatedly due to horrible intelligence.

Why did Konoha have shitty intelligence at the moment, one might ask. Jiraiya, his sensei's entire spy network... refused to give the sannin any information and those that did give the sannin information, it was usually bad information that got his shinobi harmed or killed. He even lost intelligence on Akatsuki and that meant even Itachi had switched sides to... whoever it was that gotten him to change sides which was impressive to say the least, given that Itachi was immensely loyal to Konoha.

The Daimyo was no longer funding Konoha and they were losing mission right and left so Konoha had barely any income as it was now.

He was going to have to send out Jounin and Anbu to gather intelligence instead of relying on Jiraiya's no longer existing spy network... and even find whoever it was that took it over. Especially find the one who took it over and torture this person until he or she was dead for daring to hinder Konoha.

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Nami no Kuni – Gatou Shipping Company

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Hinata sat quietly outside of Gatou's office, she had only been waiting for a couple minutes while the man's secretary let him know that she was there. She had two scrolls with two million ryo in each of them, just to buy the man's company... and underworld dealings. She had to admit, she liked these dirty jobs Naruto asked her to do, they were fun and exciting.

"He'll see you now," said the secretary walking out of the office and sat behind her own desk without any further talking.

Hinata stood up and walked into the office past the double doors and saw a rather small man sitting in the chair behind the desk, "And who are you to just waltz on in here?" half-asked and half-demanded Gatou looking at her with a mixture of anger and lust in his eyes as he looked at her.

"Gatou-san, I presume," questioned Hinata taking a couple steps up to the man's desk.

"Who are you?" he asked narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.

Hinata inwardly chuckled and answered, "You can call me four million ryo. Now where's the paperwork?"

"Who do you work for?" asked Gatou, his voice turning closer to a growl as he was now recognizing her as a threat and not some wanton whore who walked in.

Hinata shrugged her shoulders as she sighed, "Heh... One of the many shadows in the world... does it matter? This is business. You have this business and I have the ryo to buy it from you," she answered simply as she pulled out the two scrolls with the money in them.

"And yet, you're here... as a walking threat," said Gatou eying the two scrolls, they confirmed his suspicions, the girl was a kunoichi.

Hinata let out a single amused laughed and replied, "Heh, listen. I'm a businesswoman myself. More into killing people and destroying things, but it's about the same thing as normal businesses. I provide a service and I get paid for it. This is a generous offer, Gatou-san, and I am leaving here with the paperwork that claims your business, even the drugs and slavery ring of yours for myself and I can pay for it with ryo... or I can pay for it with blood."

Gatou smirked and said, "Then to business, slut." After his words, over a couple dozen ronin entered through the double doors behind her bearing all sorts of weapons.

Hinata put the scrolls back into her jacket, "I'm going to enjoy this far more than I should," she muttered quite irritated at the midget calling her a slut. She was going to enjoy killing him when she got her hands on him. _'And when I get to the midget, I'm going to start beating him... and I don't know when I'll stop.'_ she added mentally before the ronin charged her enmasse.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

With Naruto

XxxxxxxxxxxxX

Naruto set aside another scroll of information that one of the informants sent him about the artifacts of the Rikudo Sennin that were in the possession of Kumogakure. He was curious about them and gave an order to one of the informants in Kumo to get him information on them. Altogether... they weren't very special in the big picture of things. They were essentially items to show off than anything else since if the report was true and Kumogakure wasn't lying out its ass, even to its own shinobi. The Rikudo sennin's items required a lot of chakra to use.

Though personally, Naruto had his doubts on it. The items, given who their creator was, probably had to be _tamed_ to be used correctly and if you couldn't tame them... well you died, to put it simply. It made more sense that the sage made his weapons in a way that not just _anyone_ could pick them up and use them all willy-nilly.

"Oh well," he said as he picked up another scroll and frowned as he started reading, especially seeing who it was from. It was from his _mother_... how it got to him, the Shadow Broker. Who the hell knew, but he'd have to deal his informants in Hi no Kuni. He couldn't have them just having... _everyone_ know how to contact him after all. It wouldn't be that much of an information network if everyone knew who his contacts were. _'Well it'll give Anzu and Kurumi something to do than lazing around and teasing me,'_ he thought as he had started to loathe the twins when they were in search of him. From the breasts in his face, the rubbing of his birthmarks, and other things. If he wasn't under constant threat by the two and their teasing, he would... kind of enjoy being in a few situations that they stuck him in, but from the number of times they did it, it wasn't as fun as you'd think it was and admittedly, he wasn't sure what would happen if he actually showed that he did enjoy it.

Seeing as the twins were mercenaries and while not close-combat combatants, they would easily overpower him seeing as he wasn't as strong as either of them. Naruto was kind of afraid being slapped by either of them as well, he could only imagine the bruise it would leave. He had seen their bows both in use and not in use and while the twins looked like normal average teenage girls... there were some frightening muscles underneath their normal appearance, they only needed to unlock their chakra coils and he could swear they'd be kunoichi that would be feared for long-range attacks.

"...I should probably train more with the sword Hinata got for me," muttered Naruto thinking on his own strength after thinking about the twins. He wouldn't say it was pathetic. Other people would, but he wasn't them. Naruto had no problems if a woman or even a girl protected him. He was weak in a fight, he'd admit openly. Hell, there were tons of men who were outclassed by kunoichi and swordswomen and people rarely brought up that little discrepancy, though when someone did a kunoichi or swordswoman usually kicked that person's ass. "Now... what to do about this letter," he muttered under his breath bringing his attention back to the letter in his hands.

_To the unknown information broker,_

_My name is Namikaze Kushina, wife to the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato (in name only, as I'll explain later). As I write this, I am already making plans to separate myself from my entire family. I gave this communiqué to a courier ninja to give to someone in the Daimyo's court in the hopes that somehow it would find its way into your hands, seeing as they make use of information brokers much more than we shinobi do. I gave explicit instructions that it was to be given to the person rumored to be taking over other information networks. It's really all everyone in Konoha can really talk about, nowadays._

_I will now tell you of my purpose in contacting you, and I ask that you bear with me as I give you all of the pertinent information. I had a son once, named Namikaze Naruto. He was horribly abused and mistreated by his entire family, and completely ignored by the rest of our village at large. I must admit with enormous shame that as his mother, I was also one of his abusers and tormentors – may Naruto hopefully forgive me one day, wherever he might now be. After years of neglect and undeserved mistreatment at home by every member of his family, he was removed as the heir to our clan. At the time, I was completely unaware of just how far the consequences of such an act would reach. As he was disinherited, according to Clan laws in Konohagakure no Sato, he would be forever forbidden from associating with any member of his former family from that day forward under penalty of death. Shortly after his banishment, he committed suicide. No note was left, so I can only assume that the horrible things we all did were just too much for him._

_It was after this that I couldn't help but do some investigating. I began to realize just how terribly I had treated him when I saw just how quickly the rest of his family just put him out of their minds, his younger brother and sister included. As it turns out, my two younger children were both aware of the law regarding Naruto's disinheritance, and both of them have proven not only unrepentant for their actions, but were both caught celebrating Naruto's suicide – at least until it was found out that Naruto managed to empty all of our clan's bank accounts and take all of our resources before destroying them along with himself. But I've learned some more disturbing things – things like how he was mistreated by several other villagers, how he was actually set up to fail and take blame for things he didn't do, not only by his father, but again, also by his siblings. The things he took blame for were crimes according to Konoha statutes, and Naruto was forced to spend several nights in jail as a result. This also gave him a criminal record very early on, which would have hindered him from being able to find any employment or educational opportunities, if not outright barred him from them. My family messed up his life, and I was blind to it the whole time! And my son was driven to suicide because of them! They murdered him…and I helped them do it with my ignorance._

_I have sought to contact you because I believe you to be possibly the only person who can somehow give my late son some justice. I was a complete failure as a mother, and all I've been able to do in the time since my Naruto was taken from me is grieve and mourn for him…alone. I am begging you, sir or madame, to please bring those responsible for murdering my son to justice, and make them accountable for what they've done. I am fully aware that my family may well fall under a very stiff sentence, including my other two children, and I am at peace with that. I know that as one of his abusers, I must also face judgment for my part in all of this. After everyone else involved has been brought to justice, I will gladly remand myself into your custody and place myself at your mercy. I will accept any sentence you deem fit to give me, even if you sentence me to execution._

_I do not ask this lightly, and I also offer you any services that I can provide to you as a medium of payment for the task I am asking of you. As the Hokage's wife, I am in a position to gain access to extremely sensitive information that any contacts you have in Konoha might not even be able to get their hands on, or if they can, I can get my hands on it much faster. This is the only reason that I will remain with my husband for now, as it will keep any suspicion away from me. I will provide you with any information you need or want in exchange for this service that I am asking you to perform on my late son's behalf. As a show of good faith, I have enclosed some intelligence that I just acquired that I believe anyone in your position would find extremely useful, and could probably fetch you quite a bit of money in whatever market you happen to sell within. If I can be of any further service or assistance to you in your endeavors, please do not hesitate to call upon me._

_With sincerest gratitude,_

_Uzumaki Kushina (my true name)_

Naruto stared at the letter before setting it on the desk. He looked at what she sent and nearly choked on his own saliva. What she sent _was_ incredibly valuable. She sent documents on the missions Anbu were on, what Jiraiya was up to and even patrol routes from the shinobi around Konoha. Iwagakure, other hidden village, even a Daimyo would do anything to get this information. For hidden villages, to most likely kill off their rivals and commence an invasion and for a Daimyo to know what the hidden village in his country was doing.

He set down the documents then sighed as he stared at Kushina's letter. It gave him mixed thoughts, most of them weren't good. In a small way, he was a little happy that _someone_ in his former family still considered him as family, but in the bigger picture he didn't care much. You couldn't simply overwrite years of neglect and mistreatment with a simple 'I'm sorry, I love you' and expect to be forgiven right then and there.

It was good to see that Konoha still thought he was dead, but he wasn't stupid. The letter itself could be a trap and that his informant in the Daimyo court was dead and shinobi were lying in wait for him or someone he would send. His mother wasn't the caring type, at least not when it came to him. She'd happily go along with whatever his father planned if it made the man or the two brats happy. The letter meant little, as did the information until he could verify it otherwise. Information from an untrusted source can't be trusted itself.

"I'll send Anzu and Kurumi to deal with the mouthy court official then send them to... talk to Kushina for further information," muttered Naruto thinking of a plan to deal with this... nuisance that appeared. He didn't have any informants in Konoha and it was little too good that someone just _appeared_ to want to give away information to him... all just to give justice to people who screwed him over... and it was his former mother of all people.

If it wasn't a trap then he'd kiss Hinata, Anzu, Fu and Kurumi no matter what consequence lay in wait after the fact... and it was probably going to be a very, very painful consequence considering their professions. Two would fill him arrows, one would Jyuken off his nuts... and he had no idea what Fu would do, but he doubted it would be good. "I keep violent company," he said to himself after the thoughts of the four of them, "Better than no company at all I guess," he added before looking at more scrolls.

XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX

A/N: And there. That's that. Not much else to say.


End file.
